But then it slipped to “inadequate” in October last year and the government education watchdog took enforcement action and issued a “welfare requirement notice”.

This means the nursery has to “ensure staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children, to ensure their safety and to make sure that children are adequately supervised at all times of the day”.

It must also “ensure all staff understand the safeguarding policy and procedures, in order to respond in a timely and appropriate way to any safeguarding issues”.

In April, the nursery was upgraded to “requires improvement” and Ofsted found “checks are carried out on all staff in order to ensure children are cared for by suitable adults” and that “the nursery had made rapid progress in improving the quality of care and teaching since its previous inspection”.

The nursery confirmed Ms Hunter had been suspended and an investigation was underway.

Sharon Ward, owner of the nursery, stressed the allegations were not related to the nursery.

She added: “We were told about this by the local authority. It is nothing to do with the nursery.

"Parents have been informed about the suspension and that it is something to do with Facebook.

“We take safeguarding very seriously and parents have been very supportive.”

The nursery has informed the relevant bodies, including the council.

Ms Hunter's Facebook page now has privacy settings which mean that no comments are now visible.

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